*Brazilan Kaka was voted the FifPros (Federation Internationale des Footballeurs Professionels) Player of the Year by his 57,500 fellow pros around the globe.

*Sophomore Kristina Larsen scored two goals Friday as the second-ranked UCLA women’s soccer team defeated San Diego State, 5-1, at the SDSU Sports Deck. The Bruins improved to 6-1-2 on the season.

UCLA hosts No. 5 Santa Clara at 1 p.m. Sunday at Drake Stadium.

*Junior Jackie Chavez (Peninsula High) tapped in the game-winner Friday to lead the 25th-ranked Cal state Dominguez Hills women to a 2-0 road win at Sonoma State.

CSUDH (9-1-3) next plays Sunday at Humboldt State.

*The Cal State Northridge women’s soccer team (2-7-1) lost its 2007 Big West opener to UC Davis (5-5-0) Friday.

Next for the Matadors: a Sunday game at Pacific.

*The Loyola Marymount men fell 1-0 to defending West Coast Conference champion and fourth-ranked Santa Clara in the teams’ conference opener Friday at Sullivan Field. Jamil Roberts scored the games’ only goal in the 35th minute while both teams were reduced to 10 men in the second half.

*Long Beach State (8-4) won 3-2 in its conference opener Friday over host Pacific.

The 49ers travel to UC Davis Sunday for another Big West match-up.

*Redondo Beach native David Vanole, the former national team goalkeeper who died earlier this year, was honored Friday at the National Training Center in Carson.

The (edited) U.S. Soccer press release:

The U.S. Soccer Federation dedicated one of the teams primary training fields at the organizations National Training Center as the David Vanole Field at a commemoration ceremony attended by family and friends on the eve of the first U.S. Soccer Development Academy Showcase Weekend.

“David was one of the pioneers at the start of a new era for U.S. Soccer,” said U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati. “I remember very well his impact on the team at the 1988 Olympics and in helping the United States end a very long World Cup drought in 1989. He should be remembered for that right alongside the other early stars of the sport in our country. Having a field named after him that will help create the future stars of our game is immensely appropriate.”

Vanole, a longtime player and coach at the highest levels of the sport in the United States, passed away in January at the age of 43. In addition to being part of the U.S. National Team’s 1990 FIFA World Cup team, Vanole started all three games for the United States at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

As a coach, Vanole represented the United States again at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, serving as goalkeeper coach for the silver-medal winning U.S. Women’s National Team. He most recently served as goalkeeper coach of the New England Revolution, a position he also held with D.C. United in MLS, and was an assistant coach for the Washington Freedom in the WUSA. He was also a coach at various youth national team levels, including a stint under Sigi Schmid with the U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team at the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1999 in Nigeria.

Vanole earned 13 caps with the U.S. National Team from 1986-1989, recording three shutouts.

Vanole also played nine times for the U.S. Olympic team, helping the team qualify for the 1988 tournament and then starting all three matches in Seoul, South Korea. A member of UCLA’s 1985 NCAA championship team, Vanole served as the goalkeeper coach for the UCLA men’s and women’s teams in the late 1990s.

*Meanwhile, 36 teams from 18 elite clubs will join two U.S. Youth Men’s National Teams to play 38 matches during the first U.S. Soccer Development Academy Fall Showcase this weekend at the HDC.

From U.S. Soccer:

The showcase matches are the second weekend of a nine-month campaign in which 122 teams will compete in over 1,800 matches in conference play. With 2,440 players, 244 coaches and more than 200 referees participating in individual conference games, travel partner weekends and showcase weekends, the Academy boasts the most comprehensive platform for youth competition in U.S. Soccer history.

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